A new rolling contact method applied to conformal contact and the train–turnout interaction

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This paper introduces a new computer program called WEAR. It contains a new and more accurate method for calculating wheel–rail contact stresses to predict degradation due to wear, deformation and fatigue. WEAR accounts for conformal contact by using influence numbers that are based on quasi-quarter spaces instead of the traditional half-spaces and considers the varying geometrical spin due to the varying contact angle through a contact patch.This new contact method is applied to two cases: wheel–rail contact in a turnout and conformal contact in a curve with a heavily worn wheel profile. In both cases, many of the assumptions commonly made in excising solution methods for wheel–rail contact problems, such as a small contact patch and a constant spin creepage, may be violated. The case of conformal contact demonstrates the effect of the influence numbers and the varying spin creepage on the resulting stresses and creep forces and provides a comparison of this new method with the well-established contact method CONTACT. For the turnout case, the first task is to obtain realistic input for all timesteps of a vehicle coasting through a turnout (i.e., diverging route) in a simulation. This step is necessary because the contact forces, which cause wear, deformation and fatigue of the wheels and rails, and the dynamics of the vehicle-turnout interaction strongly influence each other. WEAR converged for all timesteps, including many cases with multiple-point contacts at the switch blade and with extremely high creepages. This robustness demonstrates suitability of the new method for online contact force evaluation in vehicle dynamics simulations.